Why Exercise Makes Your Face Red

Exercise is certainly great for your heart, for your head, and even for your body, but a lot of people find that during their workout or even a little-bit after their workout, their face becomes a little-bit pink, or even red. It can last a couple of minutes, or it can actually go on for more than an hour. But let me reassure you, it’s of absolutely no harm, no danger, nothing bad will happen, and it’s just your body’s way of trying to regulate your body temperature so that you don’t overheat. You see, during your workout, your muscles use lots and lots of energy, and that energy becomes heat, and the heat builds up in your body. Your normal body temperature is about 99˚F, 37˚C, but if you accumulate enough heat from the energy from the muscles, the body temperature is going to go up. That’s not good for you, so your body tries to regulate it, and dissipate or get rid of that heat. And, the way it does it is by expanding the blood vessels in your face. You see, those blood vessels carry a lot of blood, and by expanding and making them bigger, for example, like taking something from the size of a garden hose to the size of a fire hose. As the vessels get bigger, and there’s more blood, you can actually see the redness. That’s why your face appears red as soon as your body has gotten rid of enough of that extra heat, because it’s bringing that 99˚ blood from the inside to your skin, which is about 90˚, so you can lose that heat. As soon as you’ve lost enough of the heat, the blood vessels return to their normal size, and the redness goes away. Again, there are no ill-effects, and nothing that lasts. People say, “Why does it happen just in my face?” It doesn’t, it happens everywhere, but because there’s such a rich network of blood vessels in your face, that’s why you see it there so much more, and it’s that same network of blood vessels that makes your facial skin heal so very well, anytime there’s an injury.

When you exercise, do you ever notice how your face gets red? Did you ever wonder why working out makes your face red? In this episode of DermTV, Dr. Schultz answers this question.